Sawyer should fire racist aide (May 3, 1988)

1May 3, 1988

Sawyer should fire racist aide

Steve Cokely the 35 568-a-year aide to Mayor Sawyer who doubles as an anti-Semitic anti-Christian anti-white fanatic has humbly apologized for his racist ravings He should but that cannot buy him more time on the city payroll

The mayor has known for month that in lectures tape-recorded for followers of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam Cokely said Jews run global secret society bent on ruling the world The cross he said is one of the symbols of white supremacy that should be off limits for people of African heritage The AIDS epidemic is result of doctors especially Jewish ones who inject the AIDS virus in blacks Yet Sawyer let this hate-spewer remain not just on his staff but also in his circle of political advisers

Skeptics may suspect that if he had white aide who turned out to be member of the Ku Klux Klan and ran around town ranting against blacks the mayor would not be so indulgent

Even after The Tribune disclosed Cokely's ravings in its Sunday editions Mayor Saywer couldn't bring himself to act responsibly-that is to fire him He's indicated to me that he did not mean those things in his heart said Sawyer Oh that explains it Steve Cokely is not true racist demagogue he s only

hypocritical racist demagogue

The mayor s press secretary Monroe Anderson showed he has no better understanding of what constitutes responsible accountable behavior in public office than does his boss Anderson said he was sure that Cokely would stay on the city payroll because after all What Steve Cokely does on his own time as long as it s not illegal is his own business

Ald Danny Davis likes to portray himself as model progressive yet he defended Cokely's retention on the grounds that he has contacts and relationships that the mayor would not have otherwise Well let s hope he wouldn't

Those are the sorts of contacts and relationships that Sawyer should do without mayoral aide who proselytizes for such dangerous lunatic causes is an affront to the groups he slanders and an embarrassment to all Chicago So is mayor who tolerates him If he has any conscience or courage Mayor Sawyer will fire Cokely without delay And that means getting him off the payroll entirely not just shifting him to less visible job neo-Nazi who panders to haters and tries to sabotage civic institutions and civic goodwill should not be getting dime of tax money whatever his race or religion or ethnic group